Lèngyán jīng yuántōng shū qiánmáo 楞嚴經圓通疏前茅
Vanguard to the Commentary on Perfect Penetration in the Śūraṃgama-sūtra by 傳燈 (述)
About the work
A two-fascicle (2卷) propaedeutic essay (qiánmáo 前茅 — “vanguard”, literally “front grass-troops” of an army’s advance) prefacing 傳燈’s Yuántōng shū (KR6j0689) and Xuányì (KR6j0690). The triadic structure — Xuányì (prolegomena) + Qiánmáo (vanguard) + Yuántōng shū (commentary proper) — constitutes Chuándēng’s complete late-Wànlì Tiāntái-doctrinal Lèngyán programme. Preserved as X14 no. 297 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The work opens with the author’s xù yuánqǐ 敘緣起 (“preface on the origin”), signed Tiāntáishān Yōuxī shāmén Chuándēng shù 天台山幽溪沙門傳燈述: “I have wished to compose this commentary for a long time. Once, in Wànlì xīnchǒu = 1601, I went to Hǔlín [Hangzhou] at the invitation of Yú Sīxūn Déyuán jūshì 虞司勳德園居士 (虞淳熙) to lead the Fǎhuá sānmèi 法華三昧 [Lotus-samādhi] retreat at the Shèngguǒsì 勝果寺. The Dharma-companions who came requested an authorial work; I first composed a preface, titled it Yuántōng shū. I delayed coming-to-now and have not yet fulfilled my will. This autumn, Línhǎi Wáng Bówú jūshì 臨海王伯無居士 (王伯無) came to my Yōuxī, together cultivating Dàbēi sānmèi 大悲三昧 …; the bhikṣu … with this request again, and ten persons together [□□□□□□□□□□] requesting from the Great Compassion Bodhisattva, secretly perfumed and supported …” (余欲述此疏久矣。曾於萬曆辛丑。赴虎林虞司勳德園居士勝果寺法華三昧之請。諸來法侶。請余著述。先作一序。題為圓通疏。遷延至今。未果厥志。今秋臨海王伯無居士。詣余幽溪。同脩大悲三□□□□□比丘。復有此請。而十人同□□□□□□□□□□求大悲菩薩。冥熏加被。□□□□□□□□□□□).
The preface is partially damaged in the source transcription (multiple □ lacunae) but the substantive points are preserved: the work’s gestation began in 1601 at the Hangzhou Shèngguǒsì Lotus retreat under the patronage of Yú Déyuán jūshì (= Yú Chúnxī 虞淳熙 虞淳熙, zì Déyuán 德園, the prominent late-Wànlì Hangzhou literatus, jiǎshì of Sīxūnyuán 司勳員 [Bureau of Honors] of the Ministry of Personnel), and the work was finally completed at the Yōuxī Gāomíngsì 幽溪高明寺 (Mt. Tiāntái) under the patronage of Wáng Bówú jūshì 王伯無 of Línhǎi 臨海.
Abstract
The Qiánmáo serves as the historical-prosopographic introduction to Chuándēng’s Tiāntái-doctrinal Lèngyán programme. Its principal value lies in (a) the dated record of the work’s compositional gestation, and (b) the explicit identification of the lay-aristocratic patronage network (the Hangzhou Yú family, the Línhǎi Wáng family) that supported the late-Wànlì Tiāntái revival.
The dating bracket is set to 1601 – 1628, between the dated initial draft (Wànlì 29 = 1601) and Chuándēng’s death (1628).
Translations and research
- Shèngyán 聖嚴, Míngmò fójiào yánjiū 明末佛教研究 (Taipei, 1987), chap. 2.
- No complete Western-language translation located.